Same-sex Civil Marriages

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities what assessment she has made of the potential effect of European human rights legislation on any UK legislation on same-sex civil marriages.

Lynne Featherstone: If a couple love each other and want to commit to a life together, we believe that they should have the option of getting married. That is why we have consulted on enabling same-sex couples to have a civil marriage ceremony.
	As would be expected, we continue to consider all relevant court judgments, including those from Europe. This is alongside our consideration of the responses we have received to the consultation—and I am grateful to everyone who sent in their views. We will be publishing the Government's response by the end of the year.

Arts

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much funding for (a) the arts, (b) heritage, (c) active leisure and (d) museums his Department allocated to (i) England, (ii) the west midlands and (iii) each local authority area in the west midlands from 2010 to 2012.

Edward Vaizey: The Department provides grant-in-aid funding to public bodies that help deliver our strategic aims and objectives for the arts, heritage, community sport and museums. The grant in aid allocated to these bodies can be found in the Department's annual reports, and in funding allocation letters, which can be found at the following links:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Annual_ Report_and_Accounts_2010_11.pdf
	and
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/9020.aspx
	Arts Council England has provided details of arts and museum funding distributed in England and the west midlands. Museum funding data are not recorded by local authority area.
	
		
			 Arts funding 
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 (i) England 401,849,829 392,691,133 
			    
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 (ii) West midlands 45,157,638 44,359,071 
			    
			 (iii) West midlands local authority areas   
			 Birmingham 22,055,423 21,053,661 
			 Bromsgrove 18,593 12,635 
			 Coventry 1,899,926 1,970,029 
			 Dudley 67,462 122,952 
			 East Staffordshire 14,000 0 
			 Herefordshire, County of 593,161 459,140 
			 Lichfield 72,635 59,251 
			 Malvern Hills 81,970 107,550 
			 Newcastle-under-Lyme 1,082,029 1,008,500 
			 North Warwickshire 0 0 
			 Nuneaton and Bedworth 7,665 0 
			 Redditch 0 8,819 
			 Rugby 1,000 95,885 
			 Sand well 457,278 439,577 
			 Shropshire 716,343 776,573 
			 Solihull 11,302 150,157 
			 South Staffordshire 0 0 
			 Stafford 113,800 77,385 
			 Staffordshire Moorlands 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Stoke-on-Trent 363,210 206,278 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 15,362,633 14,977,995 
			 Tamworth 0 44,500 
			 Telford and Wrekin 14,500 158,196 
			 Walsall 945,543 931,694 
			 Warwick 405,310 649,423 
			 Wolverhampton 389,912 536,281 
			 Worcester 357353 403,636 
			 Wychavon 121,372 108,954 
			 Wyre Forest 5,218 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Renaissance Museum Programme funding 
			 £ million 
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 (i) England 43 37.6 
			 (ii) West midlands 4.6 4.1 
		
	
	We do not hold data for funding allocated to ‘active leisure’; however, Sport England allocates Exchequer funding to community sport. Full details of the funds awarded by region and local authority, from 2010 to 2012, can be found at the following link:
	http://www.sportengland.org/funding/local_spending_data.aspx
	English Heritage has provided a breakdown of grant offers they have made in England and the west midlands. These figures are not broken down by local authority area.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  West midlands(1) England 
			 2010-11 3.706 24.373 
			 2011-12 2.835 23.729 
			 (1)Amounts exclude offers made under the English Heritage National Heritage Protection Commissions Programme.

e-mail

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many e-mails he received to his official government email address in each month since May 2010.

John Penrose: The number of e-mails received by the Secretary of State’s three official Government addresses is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Secretary of State's Office Jeremy Hunt—Office Jeremy Hunt—Diary Total 
			 May 2010 859 29 150 1,038 
			 June 2010 1,723 71 974 2,768 
			 July 2010 1,754 20 592 2,366 
			 August 2010 784 21 295 1,100 
			 September 2010 1,045 19 637 1,701 
			 October 2010 1,096 16 559 1,671 
			 November 2010 1,135 21 878 2,034 
			 December 2010 735 12 463 1,210 
			 January 2011 931 42 1335 2,308 
			 February 2011 888 49 1056 1,993 
			 March 2011 1,296 85 975 2,356 
			 April 2011 556 34 559 1,149 
		
	
	
		
			 May 2011 775 17 594 1,386 
			 June 2011 1,006 21 546 1,573 
			 July 2011 1,907 32 480 2,419 
			 August 2011 747 27 387 1,161 
			 September 2011 930 46 3,262 4,238 
			 October 2011 1,016 60 1,366 2,442 
			 November 2011 1,221 58 1,174 2,453 
			 December 2011 849 57 303 1,209 
			 January 2012 806 380 239 1,425 
			 February 2012 936 410 163 1,509 
			 March 2012 1,066 517 203 1,786 
			 April 2012 806 446 233 1,485 
			 May 2012 864 574 149 1,587 
			 Total 25,731 3,064 17,572 46,367

Departmental Mobile Phones

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the (a) make, (b) model and (c) network provider was of each mobile telephone device he has been officially issued with in chronological order since May 2010.

John Penrose: Since May 2010, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has been officially issued with one mobile phone device, a Blackberry 8250, which is both data and phone enabled. The network provider for this mobile phone device is O2, which is the network provider for all departmental mobile devices.

Press Officers

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much has been claimed in reimbursable expenses by press officers in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its arm’s-length bodies since May 2010.

John Penrose: Reimbursed expenses paid to press officers by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport between May 2010 and the end of May 2012 were £617.70. These payments were made in connection with travel and subsistence costs, but we are unable to analyse in more detail without incurring disproportionate costs.
	The Department's agency (The Royal Parks Agency) has paid £117.42 in reimbursable expenses to its press officers since May 2010.
	The Department does not hold this information for its arm’s length bodies. Accordingly, I have asked their chief executives to write directly to the hon. Member with this information.
	A copy of the letters will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Infrastructure

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress his Department has made on securing public and private investments for the funding of the projects in the National Infrastructure Plan 2011, by project; and what the (a) funding source, (b) funding amount secured, (c) total funding amount required and (d) potential Barnett consequential to be paid to Scotland is for each such project.

Danny Alexander: The National Infrastructure Plan 2011 identified a substantial pipeline of planned investment in UK infrastructure over the next decade and beyond. The infrastructure pipeline includes over 500 projects and programmes worth over £250 billion. Almost two thirds of the expected investment to 2015 will be privately funded and the remainder will be either partially or fully publicly funded. The Barnett formula will be applied in the usual way to public funding.
	At the autumn statement 2011 the Government announced £6.3 billion of capital spending and since the 2010 spending review the UK Government has provided more than £700 million of additional capital funding to the Scottish Government for it to spend according to its own priorities.

VAT

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to Table 6 of Annex B—Table of Impact for Individual Measures of the HM Revenue and Customs consultation document, “VAT: Addressing borderline anomalies”, published in the 2012 Budget, what financial support and relief he is making available to those businesses and charities which own listed buildings which are not listed places of worship and who will be required to pay VAT on alterations to their buildings that may be affected each year.

David Gauke: The vast majority of businesses with listed buildings already pay VAT on any approved alterations and so are unaffected by this measure.
	In relation to charities, I refer my hon. Friend to my response of 18 June 2012, Official Report, column 728W.

Gangmasters Licensing Authority

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she plans that her consultation on the future of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority will begin;
	(2)  pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 24 May 2012, Official Report, column 83WS, on Gangmasters Licensing Authority (Red Tape Challenge), when she proposes that the changes to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority will be implemented; and what (a) impact assessment she undertook and (b) discussions she had with (i) the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (ii) trades unions, (iii) farming representatives and (iv) gangmaster representatives before the announcement.

James Paice: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given in response to questions he asked on 21 June 2012, Official Report, column 1120W.
	In respect of issues not covered in the earlier answer, changes to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) will be implemented over the next 12 months subject to the outcome of public consultation. The GLA was considered under the Red Tape Challenge's Employment Theme led by Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who were closely involved in deliberations. The Red Tape Challenge invited evidence on the future of the GLA from all interested parties, who will also be able to contribute to public consultation on our detailed proposals.

Debts Written Off

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much bad debt was written off by his Department in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Kenneth Clarke: The amount written off by the Department for 2010-11 is contained within the published annual report and accounts:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/MoJ/moj-annual-report-accounts-2010-11.pdf
	The Department's 2011-12 year-end position is not yet finalised. The annual report and accounts, due to be published in July 2012, will contain details of the amounts written off during 2011-12.

Employment Tribunals Service

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many employment tribunals were on matters related to holiday pay in each year since 2007.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice publishes Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) work load statistics annually and quarterly. Those statistics include data on employment tribunal claims receipts (i.e. the volume of actions brought by individual claimants) and a further break down of jurisdictional complaints receipts (i.e. the component causes of action, by jurisdictional type, brought under the claims submitted) each quarter and each financial year.
	Under legislation to implement the working time directive, employment tribunals have jurisdiction to hear complaints from a worker that their employer has failed to allow them to take (or to pay them for) statutory annual leave entitlement. Complaints under this jurisdiction are often referred to as ‘holiday pay' claims.
	A significant proportion of the holiday pay (and total) complaints received since 2007 has come from claims resubmitted approximately on a quarterly basis by a cohort of individual claimants as part of an ongoing collective dispute in the airline industry. These employment tribunal complaints (managed together as ‘multiples' at the London South Employment Tribunal Office) are currently stayed, pending the outcome of appellate proceedings before the Supreme Court.
	The following table shows the total number of complaints received under the holiday pay jurisdiction for each complete financial year since 2006-07.
	
		
			 Claims and complaints received by employment tribunals in financial years since 2006-07 
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Total claims receipts 132,600 189,300 151,000 236,100 218,100 186,300 
			 Total jurisdictional complaints 238,500 297,000 266,500 392,800 382,400 321,800 
			 Holiday pay complaints receipts* 14,900 53,300 21,800 92,300 111,700 94,700 
			 Note: Figures for 2006-07 are management information. Source: HMCTS Annual Statistics, published by the Ministry of Justice (*Data on holiday pay complaints are drawn from the HMCTS employment tribunal database, which is the source of all associated official statistics).

Prison Officers

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the age profile is of prison officers across the prison estate.

Crispin Blunt: Information on the age profile of prison officers and prison custody officers on the latest available date, split into 10-year bands, is contained in the following table. The information covers both public and private sector Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.
	
		
			 Prison officers/prison custody officers in Prison Service of England and Wales—As at 30 April 2012 
			 Age group Headcount Percentage of total 
			 <20 6 0 
			 20-29 3,039 14 
			 30-39 5,049 23 
			 40-49 8,219 37 
			 50-59 4,880 22 
			 >60 901 4 
			 Total 22,074

Procurement

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many contracts issued by his Department were awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2011-12; what proportion that figure represents of all contracts let; and what the monetary value was of such contracts.

Kenneth Clarke: The number of contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2011-12 by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ); what proportion that figure represents of all contracts let; and what the monetary value was of such contracts is as shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Period No of contracts awarded to SMEs Proportion of SME contracts represented as a proportion of all contracts let (%) Monetary value of contracts awarded to SMEs (£) 
			 l April 2011 to 31 March 2012 512 67 501,993,891.00

Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders released on licence following a life sentence have committed (a) murder and (b) other offences in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: Comprehensive data on offenders' further offending who have been released on licence following a life sentence in each of the last five years are not held centrally in a readily accessible electronic format. To obtain these data would exceed cost limits.
	The following table provides data on the number of convictions for murder in the last five years where the individual convicted of murder was on life licence.
	
		
			 Convictions for murder where individual convicted was on life sentence 
			  Number 
			 2007 0 
			 2008 1 
			 2009 3 
			 2010 1 
			 2011 2 
		
	
	There are data from published proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales for life sentenced prisoners. These statistics are published on a quarterly basis and the latest bulletin, which was published on 26 April 2012 on the Ministry of Justice website, is at the following address:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/reoffending/proven-re-offending
	These data show that of the 84 life sentenced prisoners released from prison in the 12 months ending June 2010 three of them reoffended in a 12 month follow up period.
	The breakdown of the re-offences for these three reoffenders were:
	Burglary (household)
	Drug offences
	Summary motoring offences

Energy: Prices

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the number of consumers switching energy providers following the launch of his Department's Check, Switch, Insulate and Save campaign.

Charles Hendry: Ofgem is responsible for collecting data on switching.
	The average number of customers who switched from one supplier to another during each quarter of 2011 (latest data to be published) is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 2011 Electricity Gas 
			 Quarter 1 331,000 266,000 
			 Quarter 2 370,000 271,000 
			 Quarter 3 396,000 318,000 
			 Quarter 4 305,000 235,000 
		
	
	The Check, Switch and Insulate to Save campaign was launched in October 2011, but between July and December 2011 five of the large energy suppliers suspended their doorstep sales activities, which is likely to have had a significant negative impact on switching levels.

Green Deal Scheme

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost to small and medium-sized enterprises of the legal advice that will be necessary to comply with the Green Deal Arrangements Agreement.

Gregory Barker: We do not have estimates but have sought to minimise the potential cost to small and medium-sized enterprises of any legal advice that may be necessary to comply with the Green Deal Arrangements Agreement (GDAA) by keeping the GDAA as concise and clear as possible. The length of the current draft of the GDAA, at 96 pages, compares favourably with the length of other industry codes such as the Master Registration Agreement (234 pages), the Balancing and Settlement Code (859 pages) or the Distribution Connection and Use of System Agreement (474 pages).

Procurement

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many contracts issued by his Department were awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2011-12; what proportion that figure represents of all contracts let; and what the monetary value was of such contracts.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) does not hold complete information on the number of contracts awarded to small and medium sized entities in 2011-12. The amount of expenditure incurred with small and medium-sized entities in 2011-12 and the total level of procurement spend by the Department and its non-departmental public bodies will be published before the summer recess in DECC's departmental accounts. This information is available on a quarterly basis in DECC's Quarterly Data Summaries, which can be found at the following link:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/EN/searchresults.aspx?q=qds
	A number of actions are in train to improve the identification of contracts and expenditure with small and medium-sized entities, including the use of a spend analysis tool developed by the Government Procurement Service (Bravo Solutions). This tool links departmental spend to suppliers with Dunn and Bradstreet data to identify small and medium-sized enterprises.

Antisocial Behaviour

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals following the publication of her Department's White Paper entitled, “Putting Victims First: More Effective Responses to Anti-Social Behaviour”.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 26 June 2012
	We will set out plans to bring forward legislation on more effective powers to tackle antisocial behaviour, including plans for pre-legislative scrutiny, in due course.

Community Safety Accreditation Schemes

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what plans she has to introduce greater transparency and accountability to the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme;
	(2)  how her Department is monitoring the use of (a) fixed penalty notices and (b) penalty notices for disorder by accredited organisations under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme; and whether police forces should be monitoring these data.

Nick Herbert: The Home Office is working with forces to increase transparency at a local level by ensuring information about use of the scheme is available and accessible. The introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners in November will provide another level of local accountability and ownership, ensuring that these localised partnerships continue to reflect and respond to local concerns and community safety issues.
	It is for chief officers in each force to agree management and monitoring arrangements of the use of fixed penalty notices and penalty notices for disorder issued under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme.
	Guidance is provided by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Detention Centres: Pregnant Women

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is her policy that pregnant women are always allowed to keep their hand-held maternity records (maternity notes) when they enter immigration detention.

Damian Green: Pregnant women who have been issued with hand-held records or a medical book while in the community are permitted to retain these on entering immigration detention. While detained, such records are maintained by the immigration removal centre's healthcare department to ensure continuity of care.

Police: Pensions

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress she has made on police pension reform; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Herbert: holding answer 21 June 2012
	The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), wrote to the Police Negotiating Board on 27 March 2012 to consult on a proposal for the long-term reform of police officer pensions. Both sides were asked to consider the proposal and respond by 22 June 2012 and we are now considering those responses.

Prisoners: Repatriation

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to work with the European Court of Human Rights to develop the criteria by which verifiable guarantees from foreign countries that potential deportees will not be tortured are accepted.

James Brokenshire: The European Court of Human Rights has made clear in its judgment in the case of Othman (Abu Qatada) v. UK that it is not for the Court to rule upon the propriety of seeking assurances nor for them to assess the long-term consequences of doing so. Their only task is to examine whether the assurances are sufficient to remove any real risk of ill-treatment. In doing so, the Court set out in that judgment a list of factors it will have regard to. We are therefore continuing to work with foreign partners, such as Jordan, to ensure that adequate assurances are provided.

Crisis Loans: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what funding he plans to provide to the Scottish Government for crisis loans payments in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

Steve Webb: Scotland has been allocated £4.5 million in addition to recoveries for crisis loan payments for the year 2012-13.
	The discretionary Social Fund, which includes crisis loans, is being abolished from April 2013. The funding is being passed to the Governments of Scotland and Wales and local authorities in England to provide a better targeted local provision.
	Scotland's share of the programme funding for the new provision from April 2013 is approximately £25 million per annum for 2013-14 and 2014-15.
	Additionally, universal credit will provide a better service of payments on account, supporting many people in need of short and longer term credit facilities.

Disability: Children

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what modelling his Department has undertaken in relation to the effect of the introduction of universal credit on families with disabled children; and if he will publish this modelling.

Maria Miller: Section 3.1 of the equality impact assessment shows the impact of universal credit on households with disabled people. The figures include households with one or more disabled people, including children. The equality impact assessment for universal credit was published in November 2011 and is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dwp.gov.uk

Government Procurement Card

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many procurement card holders in his Department were (a) paid off-payroll, (b) employed on a part-time basis and (c) employed as a non-permanent employee in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12.

Chris Grayling: Government procurement cards (GPC) are held by staff across the DWP to make low value purchases. Currently there are 615 DWP staff who hold a GPC.
	In line with Cabinet Office guidelines, the DWP have taken action over recent years to reduce the number of GPC holders. There has been a number of changes on the number of staff holding a GPC due to staff joining/leaving the Department and those whose roles have changed. An initial check has identified 3,830 GPC holders over the last three years.
	Information on GPC holders is held on the SDOL (Secure Data On-Line) database provided by the GPC supplier. This database does not hold any personal information on staff such as working pattern or status. Therefore this information would need to be cross-checked against staff records in order to provide the requested information. HR has confirmed that as the information requested is not collated centrally it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	All the 615 GPC holders are DWP staff who are paid via payroll. In 2009 there were a small number of GPC holders who were contractors. These would have been staff who were employed on the Office Services contract who had moved to the contractor under TUPE arrangements when work was outsourced. During 2009-10 the DWP revised its policy on GPC holders and all GPCs were removed from non-DWP staff. Therefore during 2010-11 and 2011-12 there have been no non-DWP GPC holders.

Housing Benefit

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he proposes that the role of carers will be recognised when an under-occupancy penalty is applied to housing benefit claimants.

Steve Webb: A bedroom will be allowed in the assessment of occupancy for a carer living in the household and for a carer who provides necessary overnight care to the claimant or their partner, as is already the case for private tenants.
	As part of the under-occupation measure we have added £30 million to the discretionary housing payment fund, £25 million of which is aimed at supporting disabled claimants living in adapted properties.

Housing Benefit: East Lothian

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of under-25-year-olds in receipt of housing benefit in East Lothian constituency.

Steve Webb: Information is not readily available for housing benefit recipients aged under 25 at parliamentary constituency level, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
	A one-off exercise was carried out on the January 2011 data to provide a parliamentary constituency breakdown. This exercise consisted of validating postcodes and partial postcodes, using them to allocate cases to the appropriate parliamentary constituency using the revised Office for National Statistics coding system, then resolving cases with missing or invalid postcodes. The results were published on the Department's website at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/hb_ctb_parlc_jan11.xls

Pay

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) highest, (b) median, (c) median full-time equivalent and (d) lowest full-time equivalent salary paid by (i) his Department and (ii) its public bodies was in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12 and (C) 2012-13.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions has 14 public bodies, four of which are advisory bodies and do not employ staff; therefore they have not been included in this table showing the salary figures. All figures relate to base salary only unless otherwise stated in the notes of the table.
	
		
			 £ 
			   2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)(1) Highest 227,500.00 227,500.00 n/a 
			  Median 18,245.00 18,710.00 n/a 
			  Median FTE 20,970.00 21,540.00 n/a 
			  Lowest FTE 14,000.00 14,400.00 n/a 
			      
			 Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC)(2) Highest 210,000.000-215,000.000 140,000.00-145,000.00 n/a 
			  Median 16,725.00 17,188.00 n/a 
		
	
	
		
			  Median FTE 17,885.00 18.425.00 n/a 
			  Lowest FTE 13,480.00 14,400.00 n/a 
			      
			 Health and Safety Executive (HSE)(3) Highest 208,875.28 201,021.58 201,021.58 
			  Median 34,199.00 35,633.00 35,633.00 
			  Median FTE 35,633.00 37,158.89 37,158.89 
			  Lowest FTE 16,603.00 16,853.00 16,853.00 
			      
			 National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) Highest 230,000.00 230,000.00 n/a 
			  Median 60,000.00 54,000.00 n/a 
			  Median FTE 60,000.00 54,000.00 n/a 
			  Lowest FTE 20,150.00 20,150.00 n/a 
			      
			 The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) Highest 92,500.00 92,500.00 92,500.00 
			  Median 38,000.00 37,500.00 37,500.00 
			  Median FTE 38,000.00 37,500.00 37,500.00 
			  Lowest FTE 21,250.00 21,500.00 21,500.00 
			      
			 Independent Living Fund (ILF)(4) Highest 104,000.00 91,500.00 91,500.00 
			  Median 19,246.00 20,378.00 20,596.00 
			  Median FTE 20,346.00 20,596.00 20,596.00 
			  Lowest FTE 15,990.00 14,500.00 14,500.00 
			      
			 Pension Protection Fund (PPF) Highest 200,000.00 200,000.00 200,000.00 
			  Median 40,000.00 40,000.00 40,000.00 
			  Median FTE 40,000.00 40,000.00 40,000.00 
			  Lowest FTE 16,086.00 16,086.00 16,626.00 
			      
			 The Pension Regulator (TPR) Highest 235,000.00 211,500.00 211,500.00 
			  Median 39,228.00 39,228.00 39,228.00 
			  Median FTE 39,228:00 39,228.00 39,228.00 
			  Lowest FTE 16,028.00 16,278.00 16,278.00 
			      
			 Pensions Ombudsman (PO) and Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman (PPFO)(5) Highest 124,236.00 124,236.00 124,236.00 
			  Median 35,000.00 35,000.00 35,000.00 
			  Median FTE 35,000.00 35,000.00 35,000.00 
			  Lowest FTE 17,030.00 17,000.00 17,000.00 
			      
			 Remploy Ltd(6) Highest 150,000.00 150,000.00 n/a 
			  Median 14,436.15 15,015.56 n/a 
		
	
	
		
			  Median FTE 14,677.40 15042.83 n/a 
			  Lowest FTE 10,948.24 11,681.25 n/a 
			 n/a indicates that the 2012-13 salary figures are not yet available. (1) DWP In order to answer within cost constraints, DWP has not included allowances in its response. The figures are relevant as at a point in time—31 March 2011 and 31 March 2012. (2) CMEC The highest salary has been shown in a £5,000 band in line with the annual report and accounts and transparency disclosure. (3) HSE The base salary includes job based allowances for example London weighting and IMT Aberdeen allowance and detached duty allowance. (4) ILF The figures for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are based on salary information as at 31 March. The 2012-13 figures are based on salaries as at today. (5) PO and PPFO This is one combined return as these bodies work very closely together. (6) Remploy Ltd Regular payments in addition to salary have been included. For example, first aid, safety, London weighting, shift pay, leading hand, pensionable allowances, sales commission, weekly-paid shop-floor bonus, (all consolidated and pensionable), and long-term extra-duty allowances and opening/closing allowances.

Poverty: EU Internal Trade

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department made of the effect that changes in the level of trade between the UK and other EU member states since (a) 1980, (b) 1990, (c) 2000 and (d) 2005 has had on (i) household poverty, (ii) child poverty and (iii) pensioner poverty; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: Statistics covering various groups in low income are published in the annual publication “Households Below Average Income” (ISBN: 978-1-78153-046-7). Latest figures cover the period 2010-11 and are available here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai
	Statistics on children can be found in chapter 4 and statistics for pensioners can be found in chapter 6.
	No assessment of the impact of the level of trade between the UK and other EU member states on poverty is available.

Social Fund

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department plans to publish data on (a) the spending on crisis loans in 2005-06 and (b) community care grants in 2010-11.

Steve Webb: The crisis loan spend data were published on 6 November 2006 in the 2005-06 Social Fund Accounts, and the community care grant spend data were published on 11 July 2011 in the 2010-11 Social Fund Accounts.
	The published data from these reports are as follows:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Crisis loans 2005-06 Community care grants 2010-11 
			 Gross expenditure 84.4 141.2 
			 Net expenditure 14.4 141.2 
			 Source: Receipts and Payments Accounts

Primary Education: Admissions

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many additional primary school places were created in the academic year 2010-11 through (a) the Free Schools programme and (b) Basic Need funding in (i) Barking and Dagenham, (ii) Milton Keynes, (iii) Bracknell Forest, (iv) Bournemouth, (v) Hounslow, (vi) City of Bristol, (vii) Brent, (viii) Slough, (ix) Merton, (x) Waltham Forest, (xi) Lewisham, (xii) Manchester, (xiii) Wokingham, (xiv) Nottingham, (xv) Hammersmith and Fulham, (xvi) York, (xvii) Ealing, (xviii) Newham, (xix) Wandsworth, (xx) Leeds, (xxi) Southampton, (xxii) Greenwich, (xxiii) Salford, (xxiv) Thurrock and (xxv) Hillingdon local authority area; and how many such places he estimates will be created through each such scheme in each such area in each academic year from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 21 June 2012
	The Department collects information from each local authority on school capacity in maintained primary and secondary schools through an annual survey. The number of school places relates to the position as at 1 May.
	The survey results show if any additional school places have been created since the previous academic year, but we do not have information from authorities on how the places have been created, either by basic need funding or Free Schools.
	The following table shows the number of available primary school places at May 2010 and at May 2011 in each of the authorities listed above. The first 24 Free Schools did not open until September 2011 so are not included in the number of primary places available in the academic year 2010/11. Over 9,000 new school places will be available when the schools are at capacity. As to Free Schools opening this September, we are still working with groups to open these schools. Statistics on these schools will be available in due course.
	We can only estimate the level of demand for school places, it cannot be determined by pupil forecasts alone as other local factors do have an influence, for example, changes to school capacity and spare school places. The survey data indicate that there will be a need for an additional 260,000 primary places nationally by 2014/15. The Department is currently modelling potential additional basic need beyond this date.
	
		
			 LA Number of primary places 2010(1) Number of primary places 2011(1) Increase/decrease in number of places(1) 
			 Barking and Dagenham 18,107 19,615 1,508 
			 Bournemouth 11,084 11,200 116 
			 Bracknell Forest 9,360 9,434 74 
			 Brent 22,062 23,013 951 
			 Bristol, City of 30,056 29,724 -332 
			 Ealing 25,538 27,015 1,477 
			 Greenwich 20,631 20,883 252 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 9,157 9,647 490 
			 Hounslow 18,197 18,473 276 
			 Lewisham 21,093 21,015 -78 
			 Manchester 39,178 40,821 1,643 
			 Merton 14,846 15,212 366 
			 Milton Keynes 23,270 24,069 799 
			 Newham 29,093 29,184 91 
			 Nottingham 23,112 23,121 9 
			 Slough 11,909 12,459 550 
			 Southampton 17,217 17,642 425 
			 Waltham Forest 20,046 20,551 505 
			 Wandsworth 16,922 17,271 349 
		
	
	
		
			 Wokingham 13,272 13,335 63 
			 York 13,533 13,559 26 
			 (1 )Includes community, VA, VC, foundation primary schools and academies; excludes special schools. Source: School Capacity Collection.

Recruitment

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what selection criteria his Department used in its recruitment of (a) Alexandra Gowlland, (b) Elena Narozanski and (c) James Frayne.

Tim Loughton: The DFE is committed to ensuring that individuals are appointed through fair and open competition on the basis of merit. Candidates are required to show that they have the appropriate level of professional skills and breadth of experience for the post and are measured against the Professional Skills for Government (PSG).
	PSG is a common set of skill requirements across Government which include behavioural indicators and which set out the skills that staff in the civil service need to do their job well, at all grades, no matter where they work.
	The criteria for the post are advertised in the job specification in addition to details of the assessment being used (if applicable).
	The selection criteria that Alexandra Gowlland and Elena Narozanski were assessed against are as follows:
	Professional skills and experience
	You will need to be able to demonstrate excellent written skills and be able to analyse evidence and get to the bottom of issues quickly.
	You will need strong organisational skills and to be able to manage several conflicting priorities at once. Tight deadlines are part and parcel of this job.
	You will also need to show very strong oral communication skills and you are able to deal with Ministers and senior officials effectively.
	You will need a good understanding of speeches and how they fit into communications plans.
	You will be able to demonstrate how you apply your communications expertise to achieve results and improve practices.
	You will show you are aware of the pros and cons of using different communications tools and understand how they fit together to form coherent communications strategies.
	You will be able to demonstrate how you use your professional and specialist expertise and knowledge to engage, influence and persuade others.
	People and broader skills
	You will need excellent people management skills. You will be a real team player and be able to build highly effective working relationships with Ministers, advisers and senior colleagues.
	You will be able to demonstrate excellent line management skills, with the potential to manage one (or more) junior member(s) of staff.
	You will need to be a strategic and creative thinker, able to come up with fresh ideas and strategically to make the most of speaking opportunities.
	You will need to show you understand multi-disciplinary communications teams and help to shape long-term policy and communication strategies and plans.
	Broader experience
	Ideally, the candidate will have worked as a speechwriter, or senior communications role, previously and have a broad understanding of working with the unique challenges and pressures present in a fast-moving Whitehall communications department.
	Assessment
	Those candidates who are shortlisted for interview were required to undertake a written test (drafting a speech based on public information that was provided) prior to interview. Style and tone were assessed in line with the competencies for the role.
	Additionally at interview candidates were required to deliver a short presentation to the interview panel, the topic of which was provided in their interview letter.
	The selection criteria for James Frayne are as follows:
	Professional skills and experience
	Experience of developing communications strategy at a senior level in a large, complex organisation with many different audience groups and in a media sensitive environment.
	Understanding of the policy objectives and aims of the Department and its key policy directorates.
	Experience of issue management and stakeholder relationship management.
	Experience and proven track record of at least two, preferably more, specialist communications areas, such as media handling, marketing, internal communications, employee engagement, customer insight or digital communications.
	Leadership and core skills
	Command the respect and attention of senior people and work effectively and credibly with Government Ministers and their offices as well as a wide range of officials, advisers and stakeholders.
	A team player, working with colleagues to deliver the Communications Strategy and continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Communications Group.
	Demonstrable success in leading the development of communications strategy. Able to think strategically and communicate strategies effectively and persuasively.
	The ability to lead and motivate senior communication specialists who can deliver for their individual customers within the directorates as well as addressing the broader needs of the external customers of the department.
	The ability to think, plan and operate both in response to immediate needs, and from a strategic perspective, identifying and working towards longer-term outcomes.
	A proven problem solver with a reputation for delivering solutions to seemingly intractable problems.
	Ability to formulate and drive forward change while relentlessly focusing on improving service delivery and reducing cost.
	Experience of successful operational, project and programme, financial and people management.
	Broader experience
	Ideally the candidate will have worked as a professional communicator previously at senior management level and have a broad understanding of working with the unique challenges and pressures present in a fast-moving Whitehall communications department.
	Assessment
	Each candidate met with an occupational psychologist, experienced in assessing people for SCS posts, who provided the panel with a report on each candidate.
	Each candidate was asked to prepare for their interview a five minute presentation entitled ‘As Director of Communications for DFE, what do you think are likely to be the key opportunities, risks and challenges of the role and how would you deal with them’.
	The Head of the Government Communications profession was a panel member to test each candidate's technical ability.

Sixth Form Education

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish success rates for each school sixth form in England; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Young People's Learning Agency published headline (provider level) success rates for each school sixth form in England for 2009/10 following a data-checking exercise.
	The Education Funding Agency is currently carrying out a data-checking exercise with schools and academies to review the quality of success rate data for the 2010/11 academic year. Once this has been completed the EFA will assess the validity of the data. This is due to take place in autumn 2012. If the data are of sufficient quality, I will make appropriate plans to publish them.

Charities

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many new charities were established (a) nationally and (b) in Swindon in the last year.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's chief executive to reply.
	Letter from Sam Younger CBE, dated 27 June 2012
	.
	The Charity Commission holds the Register of Charities for England and Wales. Charities that have been established and which have an annual income of £5,000 or above are required to register with us.
	6,401 charities were registered in England and Wales in the last 12 months. 11 charities were registered in Swindon in the last 12 months.

Meals On Wheels

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people receive meals delivered to their homes and arranged through the local authority.

Paul Burstow: Data on the number of adults aged 18 and over in receipt of meals as a community-based service, funded wholly or partly by councils with adult social services responsibilities (CASSRs), are collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care each year as part of the annual Social Services Activity Report. The most recent report, for the financial year 2010-11, was published on 28 March 2012. It is available on the Information Centre website at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/social-care/adult-social-care-information
	We are informed by the Information Centre that, during 2010-11, 81,460 adults were in receipt of meals as a community-based service funded wholly or partly by CASSRs.

Adult Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department allocated to adult skills in the last year.

John Hayes: ‘Investing in Skills for Sustainable Growth' published in November 2010 set out that the overall investment in adult Further Education (FE) and skills would be £3.9 billion in the 2011-12 financial year. Within this overall investment, £3.7 billion would be invested in delivery of FE and skills provision for post-19 learners, supporting capacity for over 3 million training places in the 2011/12 academic year.
	It also highlighted that Government funding would be focussed where its impact is maximised, towards the young, the low skilled and the unemployed.

Bank Cards: Fees and Charges

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to publish the consultation on implementing Article 19 of the Consumer Rights Directive on excessive card surcharges.

Norman Lamb: holding answer 25 June 2012
	The Government shares consumers' concerns about the high level of payment surcharges imposed by some businesses. On 23 December 2011 we announced our intention to consult on implementing the payment surcharges provision of the Consumer Rights Directive ahead of the June 2014 deadline. We intend to issue a full 12-week consultation in the summer to seek views on the timing of implementation and other details on how the provision should be applied. Responses to the consultation will inform our decision on timing and our guidance to businesses.

Banks

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will consider the recommendation by the British Chambers of Commerce to create a state-backed business bank to improve access to finance and to invest more in trade promotion.

Mark Prisk: The Government already has strong support in place to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access debt and equity finance, which are available through their existing banks and other finance providers. This includes the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme and the National Loan Guarantee scheme.
	The scale of the financial crisis—with banks repairing balance sheets under the spectre of the Euro crisis—means that it is right to explore all options to ensure businesses continue to have access to finance. This is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the new Funding for Lending scheme, as well as an extension of the National Loan Guarantee scheme to make businesses with a turnover of up to £250 million eligible.
	The Government is also committed to trade promotion. The UK has an award-winning trade promotion body in UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). UKTI offers a range of tailored services aimed at helping companies new to exporting and those seeking to break into new markets. UKTI currently supports around 25,000 companies each year. Additional funding made available in the last autumn statement, along with new partnerships with business intermediaries such as banks, legal firms and accountants, will help to double the number of companies supported over the next three years.
	In addition, UK Export Finance has recently expanded its product range to provide further help for UK exporters, especially SMEs. These products address risk of non-payment, contract bonds, working capital and foreign exchange risk.

Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether due diligence checks for higher education course designation take into account the applicant's parent company.

David Willetts: The due diligence checks currently undertaken for higher education course designation take account of a range of factors including consideration of the applicant's parent company.
	As set out in the Government Response to the White Paper consultation we will be reviewing the existing student support course designation system for alternative providers to include more robust and transparent requirements on quality assurance, financial sustainability and management and governance.

Manufacturing Industries: Drugs

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the value of the pharmaceutical sector is to the economy of (a) the UK, (b) the East Midlands, (c) Nottinghamshire and (d) Ashfield constituency.

Mark Prisk: The manufacture of pharmaceutical products and preparations contributed the following amounts of Gross Value Added to the UK economy overall and the East Midlands economy between 2008 and 2010. These data are not collected at the county and constituency level and regional data are not yet available for 2010.
	
		
			 Gross value added of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry 
			 £ million 
			  East Midlands United Kingdom 
			 2008 95 9,631 
			 2009 143 11,712 
			 2010 — 11,065 
			 Source: Regional Annual Business Survey 2009 and UK National Accounts; both ONS

Vocational Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how the Skills Funding Agency monitors the effectiveness of (a) sub-contractors and (b) lead contractors delivering (i) the adult skills budget, (ii) 16-18 apprenticeships and (iii) adult community learning programmes; and what its key outcome performance indicators are for each.

John Hayes: The agency manages all providers it contracts with using a national performance management framework. This framework is based on a single account management approach, which partners each college or provider with one account manager in the agency. This approach encompasses all funding provided to them, such as the adult skills budget, 16-18 apprenticeships and adult community learning programmes.
	The account manager works closely with the college or provider throughout the delivery of the learning or training, monitoring performance against its contracts with the agency and working with the contractor to ensure that our quality standards are met and ensure that provision is effective:
	http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/providers/quality/
	Performance is measured against the terms and conditions of these contracts and meeting the contract in funding terms. Providers are encouraged to ensure their offer meets the needs of local employers and learners.
	The assessment of quality remains the key performance measure within the freedoms and flexibilities of providers to respond to what employers and learners demand.
	The agency uses qualification success rate of learners participating in programmes and this is also provided to Ofsted to underpin their inspection work. The agency uses a minimum level of performance policy to intervene where success rates fall below a national standard.
	This approach is used in conjunction with wider provider performance management protocols which ensure public funding is maximised and spent effectively.
	For all provision funded within the single adult skills budget delivered by private training providers (including 16-18 and 19+ apprenticeships), performance management reviews are conducted at quarterly points throughout the contract year. Adjustments to contracts are made where performance against cash profiles for the period in question is outside of our published tolerance levels. Where there is a pattern of under-delivery, the agency reduces the maximum contract values to reflect some or all of the value of the under-delivery.
	For colleges, simplified performance management and payment arrangements are in place. Colleges are not subject to in-year performance management. Their funding is assessed following the end of each academic year. Colleges are expected to deliver their agency funding allocation in line with their assessment of community, stakeholder and employer needs, Government ambitions and funding requirements. This includes a continued emphasis on delivering high quality provision.
	The current Adult Safeguarded Learning programme (which will be renamed as Adult Community Learning in the 2012/13 academic year), is used to support the design and delivery of a wide range of learning opportunities in every geographical area. The adult and community learning programme is intended to widen participation and, in particular, to focus some of the activity specifically on deprived areas and disadvantaged groups.
	A key effectiveness measure for this programme is the numbers of learners engaged. The numbers of learners are important as Government policy in this area is to maintain the numbers funded through this programme. The agency's aim is to reach as many learners from areas of disadvantage as possible. Agency relationship managers review with contractors:
	planned numbers of learners;
	allocation and funding;
	actual numbers of learners engaged;
	cost per learner for each programme.
	The Skills Funding Agency is committed to a high quality offer and over time performance and quality arrangements are covered in performance management discussions, and reference is also made to any relevant inspection data and learner management information.

Railways

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to reduce the carbon intensity of the railways.

Theresa Villiers: Rail electrification reduces reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels. The Government are funding an ambitious electrification programme including the TransPennine route between York, Leeds and Manchester and various schemes in the north-west of England and the Great Western route.
	My Department also includes environmental objectives in rail franchises which require train operators to develop plans to measure and reduce environmental impacts, including carbon emissions.

Longbridge Station

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood of 14 June 2012, Official Report, column 533W, on railway stations, what account she takes of the role of Longbridge station in the regeneration of the local area when considering the proposals put forward by London Midland.

Theresa Villiers: The criteria to be used in arbitrating London Midland's proposal to amend ticket office opening hours are those set out in section 6-18 of the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement (TSA). The TSA covers the various arrangements between train operators relating to the carriage of passengers and the retailing of tickets. This includes requirements on protecting passenger access to the purchase of rail products following any change to ticket office opening hours. The TSA is owned and maintained by the Association of Train Operating Companies, and is available from their website at
	www.atoc.org

Infrastructure

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent progress she has made on transport infrastructure projects announced in the autumn statement.

Justine Greening: The Government are not just fixing the disgraceful legacy of debt left to us by the Labour party but also building for our country's success in future—and that means investing in transport. At the autumn statement we announced £2.5 billion more in transport investment, building on the £30 billion set out in the spending review. An update on the progress made on the priority infrastructure investments identified in the 2011 national infrastructure plan was published alongside the Budget in March.

Developing Countries: Water

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps the Government have taken to improve access to water in the developing world.

Stephen O'Brien: At the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting in Washington on 20 April 2012, the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), announced that the UK will double its results for the number of people we will reach with WaSH programmes. The UK has committed to reach at least 60 million people by 2015. Details of how we will deliver the scaled-up ambition are under development.
	The Department for International Development is currently implementing nine major WaSH bilateral programmes in Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone) and four in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam). We also contribute to the results achieved by multilateral organisations including the European Commission, the World Bank, UNICEF and the African Development Bank.

Developing Countries: Water

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government are taking to support the work of WaterAid in the developing world.

Stephen O'Brien: WaterAid is an important partner for the Department for International Development (DFID). WaterAid and other NGOs will be essential partners in helping us to scale up our results in WaSH, as announced on 20 April 2012.
	Details of the funding provided by DFID to WaterAid for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 are provided in Statistics for International Development (SID) 2011. Table 19 of SID provides information on WaterAid. This information is available on the DFID website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/Aid-Statistics/Statistics-on-International-Development-2011/About-Statistics-on-International-Development-2011-/

Niger

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Niger; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: The United Nations currently estimates that the food crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa has left over 18 million people at risk of food shortage over the next few months. Around 6.4 million of these people are in Niger.
	Having visited the region earlier this month, I can confirm that the scale of the needs is great, but UK assistance is achieving results.
	In response to the unfolding crisis, the UK provided two contributions of £5 million each in January and March 2012.
	I am pleased to confirm that we have announced over the past two weeks a further package of assistance. Worth an additional £15.4 million, this more than doubles UK assistance to the region in 2012, to a total of £25.4 million.
	Through this assistance, British aid this year will support 1.6 million people at risk of hunger across Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, to achieve the following results:
	improved nutrition for 185,000 children and women (including therapeutic treatment to save the lives of over 110,000 severely malnourished children under five years old);
	food and cash vouchers for over 250,000 men, women and children;
	livelihoods support to over 980,000 people through:
	(a) the provision of seeds and tools for families to enable them to feed themselves for the next year and;
	(b) animal feed and vaccinations to keep farmers' livestock alive.
	These direct funds are in addition to £27 million of UK contributions also being provided in 2012 to the Sahel region through multilateral agencies such as the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
	My officials and I will continue to monitor the situation closely, and liaise with our opposite numbers in other Governments to urge that other countries also take their fair share of the response.

Iran

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  whether the Government plan to raise with other states the imprisonment and torture of Houtan Kian in Iran for legally defending Sakineh Ashtiani;
	(2)  whether he has made any representations to the Iranian authorities on the imprisonment and torture of Houtan Kian in Iran for legally defending Sakineh Ashtiani; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We remain concerned about the fate of Mr Javad Houtan Kian, who is guilty of nothing more than defending his client Sakineh Ashtiani and has no case to answer. Iran should overturn his sentence and release him immediately. We are further concerned by the mistreatment he is reported to have faced. This is something the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), addressed in his speech to the “Imprisoned in Iran” event hosted by The Times newspaper in September 2011. We raised Mr Kian's case with the Iranian authorities before the closure of our respective embassies late last year, and continue to call frequently on Iran to meet its international human rights obligations. We will continue work with our international partners to ensure that Mr Kian's case is not forgotten. The UK and its EU partners have sanctioned a number of individuals responsible for human rights abuses in Iran, including the prosecutor in Ashtiani's case.

Israel

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Israel on their Unlawful Combatants Law.

Alistair Burt: While we have not had any direct discussion with the Israeli Government on their Unlawful Combatants Law. Our officials in Tel Aviv have repeatedly lobbied Israel to either charge or release Palestinian detainees held in administrative detention, so they have discussed with the Israelis the use of the law.

Pakistan

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Pakistan following the death of Fukraz Begum.

Alistair Burt: During the recent visit by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), to Pakistan, he met with Prime Minister Gilani on 12 June. During this meeting he did not raise any specific consular cases though he did raise wider concerns over access to British detainees.
	The British high commission to Pakistan was made aware of Fukraz Begum's case by her family on 23 April 2012. Consular staff are providing appropriate consular assistance to Mrs Begum's family. Victim Support has been notified and consular staff continue to be in contact with the local authorities on the police investigation.

Palestinians

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps he has taken regarding the Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Sarsak.

Alistair Burt: We monitored closely Mr Mahmoud Sarsak's hunger strike and were pleased to receive reports that, following a review of his case by the Israeli Supreme Court, Mr Sarsak ended his hunger strike on 18 June as part of a deal that will lead to his release on 10 July.
	We have longstanding concerns about the situation and treatment of Palestinians held in Israeli detention, including children. In this regard, we have followed closely the hunger strike by many Palestinian detainees. We welcomed the agreement reached on 14 May to end the mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners. We particularly welcomed Israel's agreement to limit the use of administrative detention and solitary confinement and reinstate family visits for detainees. These important issues, particularly Israel's extensive use of administrative detention, are ones which we have repeatedly raised with the Israeli ambassador and the Israeli Government, including in May with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Vice Prime Minister and National Security Adviser. We will follow closely the implementation of the agreement and its impact on the situation of Palestinian detainees.